Jeff Ferry is Research Director at the Coalition for a Prosperous America… He writes that trade data for November 2018 published by the Department of Commerce indicates that the Trump Administration’s tariffs may finally be improving our balance of trade. The November goods and services deficit came in at $49.3 billion, 11.5 percent better than October’s figure of $55.7 billion. Equally significant, the November figure was only a hair (0.7 percent to be exact) above the November 2017 deficit of $49.0B. Deficits in previous months in 2018 were typically 10 to 15 percent worse than the corresponding month in 2017. If November is now level-pegging 2017 figures, that is a healthy improvement over the earlier months of 2018. It appears that a final deal may be in the offing. Let’s see what happens next.

John Grace believes the stock market won’t keep returning the kinds of yearly gains investors have gotten used to. “Our expectations around U.S. equity markets is for about a 5 percent median, annualized return,” says the fund group’s CIO. The stock market won’t keep returning the kinds of yearly gains investors have gotten used to since the financial crisis bottom in 2009, Vanguard’s chief investment officer, Greg Davis, said. “If we look forward for the next 10 years, our expectations around U.S. equity markets is for about a 5 percent median annualized return,” he told CNBC. This means investor expectations will have to come more in line with reality.

In Jeffrey Katz’s new book The Secret Life: A Book of Wisdom from the Great Teacher, he directly ties Maimonides’ teachings to the issue of whether Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam should resign. And yes, he should resign. They tell us that, on an interpersonal level, one should be quick to forgive someone who asks forgiveness. But full redemption is available only when one again finds himself in the same position but chooses to act differently the second time around. In Northam’s case, this would mean that in the 35 years since his blackface incident, he has worked to soothe racial tensions in this country and advance the cause of African-Americans, rather than do the opposite. But, indeed, he has done the opposite. And that’s why he has to go.

Tax expert Jeff Socha returns… The new tax law definitely put more money in most people’s pockets. However, due to an anomaly of the tax tables and payroll tax computation software, many people have received smaller refunds. What they fail to understand is that they still ended up with more money and paid less taxes. Their overpayment to the IRS was smaller and therefore their refund was less. And that’s actually a good thing, because overwithholding/overpaying the IRS is actually an interest free loan to the government.

Mike Watts progression to serial entrepreneur was part of a natural process. He’s developed a disciplined approach to choosing and marketing products.He wants it to be scalable and easy to demonstrate. Then he’ll be able to make a quick instagram demo spot and sales will start coming in. Amazon is a must platform for aspiring entrepreneurs. If you don’t put it out there, someone else will. If you have the drive then Mike says just start something, regardless how small it may be. Offer yourself for free to someone who you look up to and swing for the fences. Entrepreneurship is a representation of what makes America great. That’s why it’s so important that we keep fighting for it.

According to Lior Gantz the US Dollar is on a path of serious decline. More countries are de-dollarizing as China becomes the pre-eminent economy. Out of control deficits are another symptom of the problem. As the appetite for US Treasuries fades, the Fed will be left with no choice but to print up new dollars to finance the deficits. They’re boxed in with very limited choices, none of them attractive.

Brandon Munro is the Chief Executive Officer of Bannerman Resources an ASX-listed Uranium development company. In this interview, Brandon explains how psychology and fundamentals intersect and affect the price-per-pound of the commodity and capital inflows in the uranium sector. Specifically, Brandon shares how there is a $30/lb psychological barrier that both investment funds and utilities are cognizant of. Once this barrier is broken through, Brandon says we will see a strong inflow of funds into the sector. Brandon also describes the impact of the US Department of Commerce’s Section 232 review of US uranium imports and how this has affected the market. And he shares regarding how ASX-listed uranium equities are performing.

Jason Hartman takes today’s episode to discuss some of the big issues in the real estate world. One of the biggest is the rising cost of labor that is causing rising construction costs that is causing a squeezing in the multi-family development. In regards to multi-family, however, we’re also seeing an increase in apartment inventory, which is starting to reach scary levels. Jason also goes over some important economic news and ends with Og Mandino’s Mission Success.

David Scranton joined us today. What did we get from the partial governmental shutdown? David believes not very much. We’ll see lower GDP growth and lower economic growth. The actual cost of the shutdown will cost more than many walls would have. It was all for naught. David believes that it would have been worth having a shutdown over the nation’s burgeoning debt levels, instead of the border wall. Now it’s likely there won’t be another shutdown, for better or for worse.

E.J. McMahon could be the last sane person still in New York, at least after I left. As research director at the Empire Center for Public Policy and an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute, EJ fights a never ending battle against the economic insanity that passes for policy in my former home state. Unfortunately, it’s been a uphill battle. With people like AOC, Comrade DeBlasio and Comrade Cuomo running things, it’s almost impossible to maintain optimism and hope for the future. We discussed the impact of the new tax law on NYS, the further drain of high income earners to lower tax states, as well as mentally ill induced homelessness and NYS/NYC’s crumbling infrastructure. There’s a lot here that needs to be heard.

Elizabeth Hale is founder of eeCPA. 2018 is over and now the effects of the new tax law are starting to be take hold. Clearly the upper middle class and working rich have taken a major hit, especially those in high-tax states. While there were some benefits spread around, the loss of the State and Local Tax Deduction has cost select groups billions. This is leading to an exodus from these states to lower tax ones. You need only reside in a low tax state slightly more than half the year to take advantage of lower rates. Many people are starting to figure this out. Expect the trend to accelerate in the coming years.

John Rubino returns… Gold has been looking much brighter lately, but is it ready to shine? The declining global financial system has made many of us believe that gold would keep going up and up. But we’ve been wrong for years. Precious metals markets have been in a pronounced secular bear market, with lower lows and lower highs. Until now, perhaps. The key technical resistance point is $1350-$1363 per ounce. If it breaks through in the near term, we’ll have our needed confirmation. However, it might not follow through, in which case we’ll be looking towards a summer rally. Either way, it’s entirely likely that the tide has turned.

Ivan Bebek’s company, Auryn Resources(AUG on the TSX and NYSE American – FSN Sponsor) is on the cusp of two major gold discoveries. With his team in place, he has already built and sold two successful exploration companies. Auryn could easily be the next. On this go ’round Ivan is using state of the art artificial intelligence (AI) to hone in on hoped for massive deposits. The company can easily raise needed capital. It’s one of the best financially situated juniors in the market today. Most people would be content to sell just one company to a major, or to make one world-class discovery, but not Ivan. He is used to reaching for the stars and discovering major success.

Jussie Smollett may be a liar, but he certainly is a huge distraction for the real stories that should be getting coverage. The only reason why the Left is trashing Smollett now is he screwed up the false narrative of racism from MAGA voters.

The real story that was revealed is the total confirmation of the Russian hoax and failed coup by none other than former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe on national television. CBS did an “accidental public service” by exposing what a former top federal prosecutor says is “sedition and subversion against the President of the United States.” Many top Obama Administration officials are going to jail over this crime, and do not think otherwise. This is the biggest treason perpetrated on a duly elected President in history.

The economy is tanking. You can see it in a number of metrics. Car sales, home sales, new orders are all turning down. The only question is when will the Fed start a new round of money printing to save the day?

Unfortunately, my recent essay Let’s Face It: The U.S. Constitution Has Failed deeply offended readers whom I had no intent to offend. One reader even decided to stop reading my work, which is extreme in the polite and cordial little world of Of Two Minds, where differences of opinion are expected and welcomed as long as they add to our shared understanding of the great issues of our era.

The key point of offense is my suggestion that the Constitution itself is wanting, when it is obvious to all that it’s those who have been entrusted to administer the Constitution who are wanting. My error was in not stipulating this self-evident truth at the outset.

A top FBI official admitted to Congressional investigators last year that the agency had contacts within the Trump campaign as part of operation “Crossfire Hurricane,” which sounds a lot like FBI “informant” Stefan Halper – a former Oxford University professor who was paid over $1 million by the Obama Department of Defense between 2012 and 2018, with nearly half of it surrounding the 2016 US election.

According to portions of transcripts published on Tuesday by the Epoch Times of a Aug. 31, 2018 deposition by Trisha Anderson, the FBI relied on sources who “already had campaign contacts” in order to surveil the Trump team.

Humanity never seems to learn. During the 20th century, at least 108 million people were killed during all wars combined, and you would think that after so much bloodshed humanity would never want to go down that road again. And in this century, an enormous amount of American blood has already been shed in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. Unfortunately, the drumbeats of war are starting to get louder once again. Very angry talk often precedes military conflict, and right now there sure is a lot of angry talk going on.

Before we get to the U.S., let’s talk about India and Pakistan. They are both nuclear powers, and thanks to a horrific terror bombing last month, they are once again on the verge of war…

President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua has twice been elected to the presidency and has been a popular leader in Nicaragua since 1979. The neoconservative war criminal, John Bolton, picked by President Trump to run US foreign policy, has declared that Washington is going to overthrow the duly elected Ortega and replace him with a puppet. Then, Bolton says, the Nicaraguan people will be free.

What Bolton means is that Nicaragua will once again be under Washington’s control and free to be looted by American corporate interests. In Washington’s version of Newspeak, Orwell’s “Freedom is Slavery” becomes “Freedom is Vassalage.” “Democracy” becomes its opposite—leadership appointed dictatorially by an outside power.

From the very first day of the 2020 presidential race, when Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts blamed “generations of discrimination” for black families earning far less than white households, Democratic hopefuls have broadly emphasized racial justice and closing the wealth gap in their policy platforms.

But in recent weeks, some candidates have started embracing specific goals and overtly race-conscious legislation that even the most left-wing elected officials stayed away from in recent years.

Subscribe to Our Mailing List:

Email Address

Check Out Some Great Products, Available on Amazon.com:

ALL CONTENT ON 'FINANCIALSURVIVALNETWORK.COM' AS WELL AS 'KERRYLUTZ.COM' IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. 'FINANCIALSURVIVALNETWORK.COM' ASSUMES ALL INFORMATION TO BE TRUTHFUL AND RELIABLE; HOWEVER, THE CONTENT ON THIS SITE IS PROVIDED WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. NO MATERIAL HERE CONSTITUTES "INVESTMENT ADVICE" NOR IS IT A RECOMMENDATION TO BUY OR SELL ANY FINANCIAL INSTRUMENT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO STOCKS, COMMODITIES, OPTIONS, BONDS, OR FUTURES. ACTIONS YOU UNDERTAKE AS A CONSEQUENCE OF ANY ANALYSIS, OPINION OR ADVERTISEMENT ON THIS SITE ARE YOUR SOLE RESPONSIBILITY. THANK YOU.